Week 1 Complete!

 By the time I've posted this blog entry, week 1 is over and so is week 2.  If the weeks are traveling by this quickly, I'm definitely in for a fast paced term! 

The webinar we were required to view for week 1 by Dr. Judy Willis was really interesting and also contained a lot of new information about things that I had learnt about in previous terms.  I really like learning and though at times I’m not very good at it, it is also interesting to know how and why my brain behaves the way it does when it comes to learning new information in certain environments.

The biggest piece of information that I took away from the lecture was that if we are in a stressed state of mind, it pretty impossible to retain information.  When I heard that statement in the lecture, my mind automatically thought back to my final year of high school and how stressed out and worried I would get in some classes.  It was interesting to learn that if I had taken two minutes to relax, I probably would have saved myself many crying episodes because I thought I was failing school.

Another interesting aspect of this week was a concept that Dr. Willis introduced about advertising your lessons.  It is important to gain students curiosity and enjoyment within a classroom so that they feel safe and the Reticular Activating System (RAS), can’t block incoming information.  I thought back to the school placement I have only recently completed and one of the hardest aspects was getting the students to pay attention.  I was able to relate to the students on a personal level and get them interested in that aspect, but getting the students interested and maintaining that interest was definitely something I struggled with and after viewing this lecture, I now believe I have a good stepping stone for future placements and also my future career.

I also believe that visual cues are extremely important.  Not just because I am a visual leaner, but who doesn’t like colours, pictures or graphs?  Dr. Willis stated that visuals help to stimulate and increase imagination in all learners!  I really like this concept of visual stimuli and it’s something that I would like to incorporate in a lot if not all of my classrooms.  In a world where television rules the nation, it is important to keep students engaged and motivated to learn.

I really like learning about aspects of the brain and though I’ll never be a neuroscientist, it’s a topic that will always be interesting because knowledge and theories are always changing.

The other aspect that was really interesting during this week’s requirement was the presentation that Sir Ken Robinson did.  I have watched presentations and speeches he has conducted in previous courses and he is always a delight to listen to because he has wonderful ideas and theories about education!  The most interesting concept that was brought up was that creativity is as important as literacy.  In an ever changing and advancing world, people need to be able to problem solve just as much as they are able to read and write.  I hope that when I am a teacher, I am able to ensure that my students are information literate and creative.  Education shouldn’t just be about making sure that everyone can attend university, because that isn’t the pathway for some people and that doesn’t make those people any less intelligent than those who attend university.  We all have aspects that we are good at and those we are not so good at and making sure that all students are excellent problem solvers will ensure that all students can survive in the changing world of the future.

I definitely learnt a great deal from week 1 and I am looking forward to the weeks ahead and learning more about being connected to the technological world.